Nine, Ten ... Never sleep again (Rebekka Franck #5) Read online

  "I don't believe you," Henrik said.

  "Then what do you want me to say? That I'm sorry? ‘Cause I am truly very sorry for what happened to you, but it had nothing to do with me."

  "Still don't believe you."

  "I'm telling the truth. What do you want from me?"

  "I want to know where my kidney is."

  "Excuse me?" She asked. "You want what, exactly?"

  Henrik got up and stormed towards the girl. He grabbed her around the throat and pushed her backwards against the wall. She was spurting and gasping for air. Henrik kept squeezing while staring into her eyes until no more sound came out of her throat and her body became limp in his hands. Then he let her slide to the ground.

  Panting, he bent down and whispered in her ear: "I want to know who has my kidney."

  26

  September 2001

  Anna was staring at the bike, then back at Valdemar. She couldn't believe what she saw. "You made this?" She asked.

  The boy nodded. Anna touched the new handlebars that Valdemar had somehow managed to put on the new bike. They were extremely long and bent in a u-shape.

  "I made it myself. Using dad's welder."

  "You know how I hate it when you use that thing," she said, without being really angry. This was truly spectacular. You couldn't even tell that the handlebars didn't originally belong to the bike.

  "But how … how does it work?" She asked anxiously. It was hard to picture how Valdemar was supposed to use this.

  "Take it outside and I'll show you," he said.

  "I can put it on the grass so you won't hurt yourself when you fall," Anna said feeling very nervous about the whole thing.

  She dragged the bike out of the garage and onto the grass where she put it up against the big birch tree in the front yard. Then she turned and looked at Valdemar with her heart in her throat.

  All this for what? To impress his dad? To show him he is good enough? That he is worthy of his love?

  Anna felt the tears press from behind her eyes, but held them back. This was a happy moment for Valdemar. He didn't need to see her cry. Valdemar turned and smiled at his mother. She smiled back and gave him a thumbs-up. By putting his head on the handlebars and using his mouth and toes, he climbed onto the bike. Anna jumped forward when he was about to slip down, but stopped herself.

  He can do this. You know he can. If he wants it bad enough. You know he can. He has proven it before.

  Valdemar managed somehow, someway to get to the seat and sit on it, then he bent forward enough for his shoulders to reach the extremely long handlebars. Anna gasped as he put his feet on the pedals, set off and, very shakily, rode across the lawn.

  Oh my God, he's going to kill himself on that thing.

  But to her amazement, he didn't. He didn't even fall. Using his head and shoulders to steer, he bicycled down the street, turned around and came back. Anna stood with both her hands covering her mouth. She had stopped breathing and everything inside of her was frozen.

  Valdemar rode the thing all the way back on the grass, before he tipped over and landed with the bike op top of him. Anna stormed to him, thinking she could hear him cry, but as she came close, she realized he was, in fact, laughing. The wondrousness of a child's laughter made everything inside of her come alive again and, while helping him get back up, she started laughing too. Laughing with relief and hope thinking that maybe, just maybe it was going to be all right after all. He was going to be alright. Valdemar was not pitiful, he was one of the strongest children this earth was ever going to see.

  "Did you see me, Mom? Did you see it?"

  "I did, sweetheart. I saw you. I saw everything. It was amazing. You're amazing, Valdemar. You truly are."

  Then they laughed again. Finally Anna took the boy inside and brought out ice cream, Valdemar's favorite, and they ate it talking all afternoon about how amazing it felt for him to be able to move around using a bike. How much freedom it gave him.

  "It was almost like flying, Mommy."

  The next day, he was practicing his biking while Anna watched with anxious eyes and lots of gasps when, all of a sudden, a car drove down the street and into the driveway. Anna's heart dropped.

  It was Michael.

  He got out of the car and looked at Valdemar as he rode the bike into the driveway and jumped off with a huge smile.

  "Did you see it Daddy? Did you see me?" He asked hopefully.

  Anna's heart was pounding awaiting the answer. Not a sound left Michael's lips, so Valdemar tried again.

  "I'm riding my new bike, Daddy. Just like an ordinary kid I'm riding a bike, a real bike, aren't you proud?"

  Come one Michael. Just say something nice for once. Just look at the boy and talk to him. Just this once, you bastard.

  But Michael didn't say anything to Valdemar. Instead he turned his head and faced Anna with the words:

  "I'm leaving you."

  27

  August 2012

  We checked in to Hotel Mercury in Silkeborg around five thirty in the afternoon. We agreed to meet for dinner in the restaurant at six thirty after taking a rest. I sat on the bed with my cellphone in my hand finding the courage to call Peter and let him know what was going on. I had wanted to wait till I was alone, since I didn't want Sune to know if Peter got upset. It was Julie who picked up the phone. My heart was beating. Hearing her voice made me miss her like crazy.

  "Hi sweetie. How is everything?"

  "Great," she said.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Playing Mindskill on the iPad."

  I smiled. That was all she did lately. Playing Mindskill or watching videos on YouTube of other people playing it. I didn't get it. To me it was just a world of big blocks and it seemed really boring, but all the kids loved it. "Of course you are. What is your father doing?"

  "Taking a shower. He’s been painting all day. He said he was going to make pancakes for dinner."

  "Oh, did he now?"

  "Yeah. He also said you couldn't do anything about it since you weren't here."

  I laughed. "Well he is right. I guess it will do for tonight. Your dad makes wonderful pancakes. That's the one thing he can actually make."

  "I know. So when are you coming back? Dad said, since you weren't here yet, you probably wouldn’t make it for dinner."

  "He's right. I have to stay the night. Will you be alright alone?" I asked.

  "I'm not alone. Dad's here, remember?" She said.

  "Of course. Just making sure you don't miss me too much."

  "You have high thoughts about yourself, Mommy. Of course I miss you, but I'll see you tomorrow right?"

  "Yes, baby. I'm doing a late interview here tonight, then I'll sleep and go right back to Brabrand tomorrow morning."

  "Is Sune with you?" She asked.

  I paused. "Yes. Yes he is. We're working together."

  "What about Tobias?"

  "He's at home with a nanny," I answered. "Sune will go home to be with him tomorrow morning."

  "Oh okay." Her voice sounded disappointed. I wondered if she had thought I would bring Sune and Tobias with me back to the island. "Here is daddy."

  "Hi there." Peter sounded happy.

  "Hi. Listen. They want me to stay the night. I have an interview late tonight. I'll be back tomorrow instead."

  Peter went quiet. A million thoughts ran through my mind while trying to figure out what he was thinking and feeling. "Okay," he said. "I had a feeling that it was going to be late since we hadn't heard from you and you hadn't come back yet. But I hadn't expected you to stay away all night. I guess I'll have to live with it, then."

  "It's just that they have landed an interview with the kidney-guy and he is only going to be around for tonight. Tomorrow he is going back to Roskilde."

  "Well you do what you gotta do. We'll be here waiting for you." Peter sighed and paused. "Say, is Sune staying at the hotel with you?"

  I closed my eyes. "Yes." I exhaled and rubbed my forehead. "He is staying in
another room."

  "Well I sure hope he is," Peter said. "Why wouldn't he be?"

  "No. That's not what I meant …"

  "No, I know what you meant. You think I'm jealous, don't you?" Peter sounded offended, all of a sudden.

  "Well … I guess."

  "Do I have any reason to be jealous?" He asked.

  I froze. I wanted so badly to tell him he didn't, but I knew it would be a lie. Seeing Sune again had awoken a lot of emotions in me that I didn't want him to know about. Feelings that I hardly wanted to admit to myself that I had.

  "No. No. Of course not. I'll see you tomorrow."

  "See you then."

  28

  August 2012

  "So how are Julie and your dad?"

  Sune looked at me after we had ordered and the waiter had left. I felt like I was already cheating on Peter just by sitting in the hotel restaurant with Sune.

  I smiled. "They're both fine. Well that's not completely true. Julie is great. My dad's health is still not too good. He's had a lot of infections and problems with his bladder lately. I keep hoping it'll get better, and some days he's doing really great, but then a new infection comes along that he has trouble beating and we're back to where we started. He had a bladder infection just last week that …" I paused and looked up at Sune. "I'm sharing a little too much here. You don't want to hear those details."

  Sune raised his hand to stop me. "No, I do. I love your dad, you know that. I don't mind hearing details."

  "Okay. Well it's not something we should talk about at the dinner table, but he is fighting, and hopefully winning, but it is getting harder for him to do simple things, like walking on his own, getting out of the house and so on. I have my sister looking out for him while we're gone, but I don't know if … I mean, she has small kids and a fulltime job and all …"

  "I can check in on him when I get back to Karrebaeksminde if you'd like."

  I look at him and our eyes locked. "Would you do that? It would be a great help for me. I am so concerned constantly."

  Sune smiled. The waiter brought our food. "Of course, Rebekka. I'd do anything for you."

  I sipped my wine, feeling my heart racing. I had no idea what to say to that, so I started eating instead. The duck was terrible. I took one bite, then looked at Sune who had picked the same as me. I chewed and chewed, but it was so hard to chew I wondered if I would ever be able to swallow it. Sune looked like he had the same troubles. Then I laughed. Sune chuckled and finally swallowed. I did the same, before we both flushed it down with the red wine.

  "How can anyone ruin duck?" I whispered and leaned over the table.

  Sune laughed. "I don't know. You'd have to be pretty good, I guess."

  I chuckled and pushed the meat aside, then tried the potatoes. They weren't as bad as the meat, but they weren't good either.

  "Wow. I never thought I would ever taste anything worse than the food I had in juvenile prison," Sune said.

  I burst into laughter. I looked at his hand missing the two fingers that he had lost in prison when he was doing time for hacking as a teenager. I had heard all his stories from the inside and knew all about how tough it had been on him. In a very few years, I had gotten to know him better than I knew my own husband, who never told me anything from his past. I had to always drag it out of him. Sune wasn't like that. Sune could talk about his emotions, about stuff he had gone through. Peter couldn't. Peter had grown up in an environment where you weren't allowed to discuss your feelings. Where it was considered as a weakness. That much he had told me, but that was about it. I never met his parents since they lived in Singapore now, where his father had his business. I had met his brother on one occasion, but only briefly when he was in Aarhus many years ago. I felt like Peter didn't want me to know his family and, in the beginning of my marriage, it annoyed me and made me feel like he was embarrassed by me, but after some time, I realized that it had nothing to do with me. It wasn't me he was embarrassed by; it was his family.

  Sune had become silent. He was looking at me with serious eyes. I sensed he was going to say something. My heart was beating fast and I felt my cheeks blush. I thought like crazy about something to say to break the silence.

  "So how is Tobias?" I asked.

  "Good. He misses Julie, though."

  I nodded and drank. "I know. Julie misses him too. She was just asking for him on the phone when I was in my room. She thought he was with you here."

  "That's sweet."

  Sune exhaled. "Rebekka … I …" He grabbed my hand.

  I shook my head and pulled my hand away. "Don't Sune. Don't do this."

  Sune pulled back and bit his lip. "Okay. I get it. I'm gonna leave it there. This is the way you want it. I get it."

  A new silence broke out between us. A waiter approached us. He looked at me. "Mrs. Franck?"

  "Yes?"

  "Mr. Fenger is waiting for you in the bar."

  I looked at my watch. "He’s early," I said.

  29

  August 2012

  She was prettier than he thought she would be. Henrik Fenger didn't exactly know what he had expected, but not this. He watched her from afar, in the mirror behind the bartender, as she walked out from the restaurant and towards him in the bar. Her searching eyes scanning the area to find him gave her away. Behind her followed a younger guy, very tall and who looked more like a punker than a photographer.

  "Mr. Fenger?"

  Henrik grinned and turned on his bar stool. "Rebekka Franck I assume?" He reached out his hand and she took it. Nice firm handshake. He liked that in a woman. Probably a feisty little one.

  "This is my photographer Sune Johansen," she said introducing the punk-guy behind her.

  "Hi," he said and reached out his hand.

  "Hello," Henrik said and shook his hand slightly, reluctantly wondering what kind of germs and following diseases this guy was going to give him. Henrik stared at the photographer's ring in the eyebrow. He wrinkled his nose. He never understood why people wanted rings all over the place that could get infected.

  "Let's go sit in the corner over there," Rebekka Franck said and pointed at some couches.

  "Can I get you anything to drink?" Henrik asked. He couldn't stop staring at the woman. She was beautiful, not in a traditional way, but there was just something about her, something alluring that made him want to screw her.

  "No, we just ate," Rebekka said.

  "Ah come on," Henrik said. "You look like someone who would enjoy a Chardonnay."

  "As a matter of fact, I'm more of a red wine person," she said.

  "Then let me buy you a glass of red wine," Henrik insisted. Before she could protest, he ordered one for her.

  "I'll just have a beer," the photographer said.

  He was already annoying Henrik and he was starting to wonder how he was going to get rid of him. Henrik moaned slightly in pain as he got up from his bar stool and walked towards the black leather couches in the corner.

  "Do you need a hand?" Rebekka Franck asked.

  "No." Henrik said a little too harshly. "I mean, I'm fine. Just the damn pain that won't go away."

  "From the surgery?" Sune the photographer asked.

  No from fucking all night. Yes of course it's from having my kidney removed you idiot!

  "It must have been quite painful?" Rebekka Franck asked.

  Henrik loathed the tone of pity in her voice. Yes, he was the victim, but no he didn't want to be treated like a cripple. He wanted her to see how handsome he was, how attractive he was. Henrik always had a way with the ladies.

  "It wasn't so bad," he said, trying hard to smile.

  "Oh my God," Rebekka Franck suddenly said and pointed at his white shirt.

  "What?"

  "I think you're bleeding," she said. "Is that blood on your shirt? There on the right side?"

  Henrik looked down. Her had taken a shower after killing Annabelle and put on new clothes so he hardly thought it could be hers, but suddenly he feared it was. "
It's nothing," he said, and smiled.

  "Don't you think we should take you to the hospital?" Sune the photographer asked.

  He shook his head while imagining himself smashing the boy's face in with a clenched fist. "No it's nothing. I can hardly feel anything. The doctor said this might happen."

  They sat down on the couches and Henrik found a handkerchief in his pocket that he wiped his forehead with. He was sweating heavily now.

  "You don't look too well," Rebekka Franck said. "Maybe we should do this another day?"

  "No," Henrik said, annoyed with all the fussing. Yes, the doctor had told him to rest and stay calm, but how could he? How could he remain at peace with so many IDIOTS in this world?

  Henrik wiped his forehead again, then forced a smile and looked at Rebekka Franck. "Shall we begin?"

  30

  August 2012

  Bill Durgin was sitting in the bar with an iPad on the counter. The bartender had served up a beer while Bill was looking for the next lucky victim. Meanwhile, Bill was in the chat room, talking to one of the other artists.

  I'm sitting in the bar at the hotel now.

  Oh, the thrill of the chase, someone named Karl Persson answered. Bill had been chatting with him before. He was quite the lunatic, but very good at inspiring and giving good advice.

  Spotted your next victim yet? He asked.

  I have my eyes on several right now. Bill was looking up into the mirror behind the bartender, where observing the guests in the hotel without being seen was a lot easier. A guy at the end of the bar looked promising.

  Ah I love this part, Karl wrote. Scanning the room, knowing you hold the power of life and death in your hand, knowing you get to choose who will live to see tomorrow and who won't.

  Bill had to admit, it was enjoyable. Who could have ever guessed, but Thomas De Quincey had been right. After the first kill, the thought of the next one was much easier; it was almost thrilling. It provided the ultimate satisfaction to hurt these people. These people who deserved nothing better, who had it coming to them.